The Girl with His Heart in Her Hands
by HouseKeeper13
Summary: A Story addressing all our favorite characters from the ending of "Spring Broke" back to CRU and continuing until everyone gets the closure they deserve. CC centered at times.
1. He Wasn't Ready

The Girl With His Heart in Her Hands

**The Girl With His Heart in Her Hands**

**Author's Note:** I try to write all my stories with a feeling of just enough closure so if I get tired I can end it anywhere, but I can always keep going. With this story in the place it currently is it defiantly feels like a one-shot, but I promise I have some good ideas floating around in my head that I'd love to work out. This is to tide everyone over until September when the new season starts. Please read and review and hopefully enjoy!

**Disclaimer:**

_Roses are red_

_Violets are Blue_

_I don't own Greek_

_But neither do you._

Chapter 1- He Wasn't Ready

Cappie stared ahead. He couldn't stop thinking. So much had happened this spring break, so much he just wasn't ready for. Then again, when was he ever ready for anything involving Casey Cartwright? Even one crucial half of his entire college plan went up in smoke within moments of seeing her golden hair from across the backyard of the Kappa Tau house. And so, with that first glimpse at her, Cappie knew that he wouldn't be hooking up with as many girls as possible during his college career. He wasn't ready to fall in love, not so soon, not in college! College was for getting laid as much as possible by every hot girl on campus! He couldn't let one girl ruin that for him.

By the end of their first date, Cappie had let one girl ruin that for him, but he was okay with it. Actually, he was ecstatic about it, because he knew that this relationship was eternal. He and Casey shared a love that was deep, honest, fun, and passionate- everything love should be. She had his heart entirely grasped within her tiny hand and he didn't know how he was able to live with half of himself missing before he met her. That was why he wasn't ready to be single again when Casey caused his entire world to collapse upon itself. He had been so sure what he and Casey shared was perfect and infallible. He was sure that it was some sort of joke. After a few days when no one started laughing with him he realized that maybe this was for real. However, he was resigned that every great love story needed some conflict that would be resolved, leaving the lovers more blissful than before. So he waited.

After a month of waiting it dawned on him that she wasn't coming back without some incentive on his part. But he knew that she loved him and their love wasn't something she could just shake off. That's why he wasn't ready to see her draped on the arm of that bastard Evan Chambers.

So he dove into the other half of his college plan- booze. He'd drink himself into a drunken stupor night after night, but it wasn't enough. Even through the incapacitated haze he still couldn't purge himself of her smell, her face, every inch of her body that he had spent so many nights exploring and committing to memory. So Cappie revisited the first half of his college plan, never staying with the same girl throughout the whole night, just long enough for a quick fuck to somehow take his mind away from her in the hopes of filling the void she left him with. He was sure he had no chance of filling the void, but that's what he wanted more than anything else in the world- except of course her. He was never ready to move on because he knew no other girl could touch Casey from the pedestal she was on.

So he wasn't ready for Casey to watch him every moment she spent with Evan's arm around her, her every look filled with lust, wishful ness, and something Cappie was sure was remorse. It was this look that kept him coming back for heartache again and again because this look held an unspoken promise that her lips would betray. Because a look like that says that she isn't happy with Evan, it said that she would return to the one that caused her these thoughts that her eyes couldn't betray.

This is why he wasn't ready for her to accept Evan's lavaliere, a symbol of a permanent, lifelong, love-filled commitment that Casey had promised to Cappie not long ago. For two years since they had been together she had kept coming back to him, and each time he had been so sure they would stay that way forever. Cappie just wasn't ready for Casey to leave him for Evan- again and again and again.

The night she accepted Evan's letters, Cappie knew that he was finally willing to let her go. So he found Rebecca Logan. There was something about her that was so familiar, yet just different enough to excuse it in his mind. Because as much as he was enjoying his time with Rebecca, he still needed a way to excuse it, a way to ease the pain of his guilt at not staying faithful to Casey. His ladies of the night provided a physical quench, with none of the emotional attachments involved with a relationship. With Becca, he was having a great time while showing Casey that he had changed and was capable of a relationship. He was fully aware that there would always be a part of him dedicated to making sure he didn't yell "Casey" during sex and keeping him from not pulling her to him and kissing her every time he saw her. But as long as he had Rebecca, he was provided with a Locke to keep out the dangerous waters that were Casey Cartwright. That's why he wasn't ready for the flood gates to come tumbling down and the Casey waters to rush over him freely when Rebecca broke up with him during spring break.

Cappie wasn't ready for his kiss with Casey and the familiar feelings that came back. He wasn't ready for her transformation back to freshman Casey and the memories that accompanied it. He wasn't ready for the feelings of lust, hope, and most of all a feeling of utter willingness to dive back into a relationship with him headfirst that he had felt in her kiss. He wasn't ready for his reaction of having forgotten Rebecca completely. most of all, Cappie wasn't ready for the pain of having to walk away from Casey Cartwright and he wasn't ready for the look in her eyes that showed the tears she was fighting back as her lips betrayed her yet again with her indifference of his departure. Cappie had promised himself that he wouldn't indulge Casey again until she admitted that she wanted him back, but he wasn't ready for her lie to come for his sake as she tried to convince them both that they felt nothing for each other in the same manner that he knew they did, all to make his return to Rebecca easier. She was being selfless- or so she thought.

As he laid with Rebecca now, her cries soft as he mumbled soothing words he thought about his crying girlfriend, but only for a moment before he turned his thoughts to the kiss he shared with Casey. Couldn't she see that his return to Rebecca in her time of need was, just like his entire relationship with her, a way to show Casey that he was ready for a serious second chance with her? "Probably not" he mused. She never seemed to realize that his heart was still in her hands and everything he did was a vain attempt to win her back, even if he didn't like to admit it. He certainly wasn't ready for a spring brake like this, and he wasn't ready for the pain he felt in comforting his girlfriend when he knew the girl with his heart in her hands needed him just as much, maybe more, because true love slipping out of your fingers will always be the most painful thing in the world.

Cappie wasn't ready for Casey Cartwright to give up on him. He wasn't ready for the torture he knew he had to endure until Rebecca Logan didn't need him. How could she even ever need someone who needed someone else? He wasn't ready for Rebecca's pain when he left her a few weeks after their return to Cyprus Rhodes.

But God help him, he was ready to do whatever it took to win back the girl with his heart in her hands once and for all, and he was ready for whatever their future would hold. Cappie was ready to get his girl back as soon as humanly possible.

**Author's Note:** Please review. If it was okay than I'd love to hear what you liked, and if it was terrible then I'd love to hear why you thought so, so I could improve!


	2. For Now

Author's Note: I'm sorry that so far everyone's story has been mostly their thoughts and therefore little to no dialogue

**The Girl with His Heart in Her Hands**

**Author's Note:** I'm sorry that so far everyone's story has been mostly their thoughts and therefore little to no dialogue. However, I want to establish everyone's mental/emotional states very clearly before I begin to take them from where I felt they were left at the Season Finale and bring them to wherever I want them to be. So please bear with me a little while longer while I indulge myself as previously stated. Please Review getting so many reviews so quickly is what inspired me to update again so soon. That and I really want to get the story moving.

Chapter Two- For Now

Rebecca Logan lay in bed with her boyfriend's arms wrapped around her as he whispered what she was sure he considered to be soothing words. She was finally beginning to stop crying. She couldn't believe that her father would have done this to her- to her mother! Cheating and sneaking around with anyone in a skirt were qualities that her mother and her had long since dismissed although they both new that the front they put up for one another was as meaningless and brittle as their family dynamic itself. Years of being in the spotlight had forced her to learn to put up a meaningless façade, or else have her father's PR come down on her- hard.

When her boyfriend of 2 years had broken up with her, Rebecca was in shambles. His excuse: it was just too much pressure being the boyfriend of a Senator's daughter. She had tried to plead with him that she wasn't just a Senator's daughter; at least she didn't think she was to him. With him she wanted to be just Rebecca. He rolled his eyes and walked out of her house mumbling something that she swore sounded like "I'm not good enough for her. She deserves better… senator's daughter". Two hours later, she was still heartbroken but none the less dragged her tearstained face to her father's speech addressing the lack of family values that seemed to plague their great nation. Her father's PR had turned on her the second they entered the privacy of the car "How the hell do you get off looking like you're about to fucking cry a river during your father's speech!" Her father was too angry with her for not pretending well enough and held his glass with such force she was sure it was going to break. Her mother just sat looking out the window, trying to distance herself from the life she had- if only in her mind.

It was in that moment that Rebecca Logan decided that she was not going to become her mother. She was not going to be a trophy wife. She loved her mom; she just didn't respect her for the person she became when she was around her father. She was not going to bend to the will of a man if he didn't show her the respect she knew she deserved. She was not going to be passive with a sweet disposition. She would be a bitch, making people take notice of her, pulling the spotlight on herself, and not taking no for an answer. She was Rebecca Freaking Logan for the love of God! But most of all, she was going to make her father wish he had paid more attention to her.

So she went through her life getting whatever she wanted at the snap of her perfectly manicured fingers, making enemies wherever she went, hooking up with whoever she damn well pleased and rationalizing her every move in terns of how much it would piss off her father. She was a bitch and damn well proud of that. People didn't use her. She was not her mother.

This is why she couldn't respect Casey Cartwright. St. Casey put on the fake smile and disposition that her mother always donned whenever she was on the arm of her father. Rebecca knew that her mother had once been a fiery, strong, confident woman, but the lack of respect from her husband had robbed her of that. Her once sparkling eyes now seemed to carry a permanent glazed over far away look. It broke Rebecca's heart to see her mother like that, but just strengthened her resolve to not become her mother. But Casey, this beautiful, strong woman turned into the same submissive ward whenever she was around Evan. So, Rebecca had no respect for her. She slept with Evan, knowing full well that he was dating Casey.

She just wanted Evan Chambers, this man in whom she saw so much of her father, to see what it was like to be with a woman who wouldn't give him whatever he wanted at a personal expense to her. She would fight back. She would show this man what a real aggressive woman was like. She wanted him, and she got him. In her mind Casey was better off without him. But Rebecca knew that she wanted Evan, wanted to be with a man as strong as she was.

What she wasn't counting on was that Evan didn't want her after he used her. She didn't expect that she would be disregarded in the same manner her mother always was. _She_ wasn't her mother! _Casey_ was her mother! _Casey_ was the one who stayed with Evan for what he could give her socially not for how he treated her. He didn't respect her! So how did Rebecca Freaking Logan become the one who was used? The women her father slept with were the strong ones. Her weak mother was the one who got used and stayed with him. Her mother never won. How could Casey? It wasn't fair. So she hated Casey for getting everything her mother could not.

Rebecca wasn't blind. She knew that once she was stripped away from Evan Casey was just as strong as she was. She knew that in any other situation Casey was someone she might admire and want to befriend. She also knew that Casey was carrying a certain torch for Cappie. She saw how her eyes lit up and how she was strong and passionate when she was with Cappie. Cappie was the one who brought this out in her. How could Casey not see this? Surely she must, but why would she still choose to stay with Evan, who made her into someone she clearly was not? So Rebecca decided that if Casey wasn't strong enough to leave the material comfort and security of Evan for someone who she could be really loved by then she didn't deserve it.

Casey being the person Rebecca had grown up knowing never got what they wanted had broken one of the few basic rules Rebecca lived by. It wasn't fair. So her next strike against Casey was to make her life hell. To be a bitch and make her life difficult like the rules said Casey needed. Someone had to be there to make sure Princess didn't actually get everything she wanted without a fight. When she pushed hard enough Casey would push back, and Rebecca glimpsed the person she knew Casey really was. She respected this woman even if she may not particularly like her.

When she met Cappie and talked to him she felt as if they connected. She felt as if she might actually have a friend. A friend who wasn't just there until her father didn't get re-elected. She felt her façade melt away and she became just Rebecca- someone she thought was lost forever. "This must be how he makes Casey feel" she mused as they talked. She had finally found someone who saw her as just Rebecca- not Senator Logan's daughter. She felt an attraction to him that she hadn't felt since her boyfriend of two years. It was honest and genuine and she didn't need her shell. It felt wonderful.

She again lost her respect for Casey for not fighting for this man. But if she wasn't going to fight for him, Rebecca sure as hell wasn't going to let him get away. She had learned though not to get too attached. It began as just a temporary hook-up. She didn't want a real relationship with someone who she knew wanted the Princess, and would drop her on a dime if Princess were to send the slightest hint that she wanted him back.

But Cappie had surprised her, as he continually did by making a real commitment. He had his chance to drop her for Casey but he was here with her. Rebecca had never felt more loved even though she knew it was a half hearted love. She would take what she could get from him for now. She was having fun, and got to be herself, someone she was sure she would never see again. She would never be able to spend her life with him forever, he wasn't strong enough for her. But for now, she just needed someone to let her be herself with- even if he was in love with his ex.

Rebecca got caught up though; she hadn't expected to care for him. She soon started caring that Casey Cartwright was the girl with his heart in her hands, and Rebecca was left with everything else. Rebecca told herself that it wouldn't bother her. She wouldn't give Princess Cartwright the satisfaction, she had the guy, and Casey was left pining.

Then spring break happened. Her knight and tarnished armor had left her to be with Princess. And she got a phone call from a reporter telling her, her father was in the center of a prostitution ring. She was reminded how much she didn't deserve Cappie. She had let her defenses down, but she needed to be strong. She could not be her mother- look where that had ended.

So she got drunk and told Cappie exactly what she thought of him. She had freed him; let him finally go running back to Princess Casey like she knew he wanted. And she fell apart. The weight of her father's crime was crushing her, and she couldn't' handle it. This was not something she could let be stronger than her. Nothing was stronger than her. She was Rebecca Freaking Logan!

Then Cappie came back. She shouldn't have been surprised, but she was all the same. He was with her trying to soothe her, trying to comfort her. She knew that as he lay there with her in his arms he did care for her, but he didn't love her. Someone else was occupying his thoughts at the moment: the girl with his heart in her hands. Rebecca knew that even though he didn't love her, and she deserved someone who did, she needed him in this moment. And he was there for her to need him. He wasn't leaving her even though she let him. Not yet. He was staying by her, and she was holding on.

And that was enough- for now.


	3. Defining Love

The Girl with His Heart in Her Hands

**The Girl with His Heart in Her Hands**

**Author's Note:** So I thoroughly love writing this, and I just hope you are enjoying reading it. I haven't gotten any negative reviews so hopefully there isn't anything overpowering your enjoyment of this story, but if there is I'd love to know so I can fix it and write a better story. I'm a big girl I can take criticism. What I can't take is me writing a crappy story because no one has the nerve to tell me that I'm doing a poor job with something. So please, read and review.

Chapter Three- Defining Love

Frannie rolled over in the bed to get a better look at the man lying next to her fast asleep. She didn't know where this was going to go from here, and she wasn't sure she was okay with not knowing. She had always been a bit of a control freak, and look where it ha gotten her as ZBZ president. Clearly that was something she needed to work on. There seemed to be a lot of things she needed to work on. However, right now the most pressing thing was what she was going to do about Evan. She got out of bed and quickly dressed. It was four in the morning, but she needed to get some fresh air and do some serious thinking.

Once outside, her thoughts became more focused. With an intense concentration she forced her thoughts away from the forefront of her mind. After stopping to take a few deep, cleansing breaths, she regained her pace and allowed her first thought to present itself for inspection and decision. She needed to do this quickly and rationally because she still wasn't sure if she wanted to be in bed with him by the time he woke up or if she wanted to run away, pretending it never even really happened. The most important question seemed to be:

_How do you feel about Evan?_

Well that wasn't too hard. Evan Chambers was everything a ZBZ could ask for in a man. Well that's what she always told Casey, but did she really believe it? Evan was a smart, independent, well-focused, handsome man who was rich, and had a promising career as a politician. "Ha" Frannie thought bitterly, "the politician in him is what is so un-attractive. He lies, and cheats and he can bullshit his way out of anything". But then again, was Frannie really any different? No, she mused, not really. Once upon a time, Frannie had been all those things too, but now everyone said she had changed. Why couldn't Evan? And really, were those qualities really that important? Frannie knew that answer right away.

Look at poor Casey. She was a sweet girl, who sometimes got her priorities crossed, but really she was so young and naive in her freshman year. She really couldn't be held accountable for thinking she was in love with that Kappa Tau boy, _Cappie_. She sneered as she recalled how poorly he had treated her. As her big sis, Frannie was responsible for informing Casey what a mistake she was making by staying with him, how it jeopardized her future as ZBZ presidential successor. So Frannie steered Casey away from Cappie and everything he represented, and brought her to a far more desirable option: Evan Chambers. But Casey kept making such huge mistakes as to allow herself to still keep that little crush on Cappie and to get on Frannie's bad side.

Just because she needed to stay another year at CRU didn't mean she was stupid. She knew Casey kept that silly little crush on Cappie simply because she was too stubborn to pick up her baggage and move on. Casey seemed to show some progress when she accepted Evan's lavaliere, but then she made the colossal mistake of trying to overthrow Frannie. Casey said she was trying to save Zeta Beta and Frannie by taking the blow. Did she seriously think she was fooling anyone? She had the whole thing planned out from the start. Frannie was sure she did. Casey resented Frannie. An additional year did not bode well for the presidential hopeful. Frannie was sure to get all the votes. Casey couldn't handle that. So she found a way to get Frannie out of the picture. After everything she had done for her. Frannie was the only reason that Casey even made it into Zeta Beta. If she hadn't taken her under her wing and steered her to better pastures…to stab her big sis in the back. That little bit--

"Whoa," Frannie exclaimed putting a hand to her heart and mouth "where did that come from!?" Casey had been nothing but sweet to her since she became president. Casey was being a far more just president than Frannie had ever been. She had taken on the challenge at a perilous time and brought the Zeta Betas back to their rightful place as campus royalty. Anyway Frannie had bigger fish to fry and no time to think about how great her little sis was for her and the sorority. She thought again about how she felt about Evan Chambers.

Evan had had a little slip up with Rebecca on rush night. No biggie. Frannie had had her share of slip ups too. Frannie could see that she and Evan were a match made in heaven. They were so similar, they seemed to want the same goals in life. He could promise her things that she desired such as money, comfort, power. What else was there? He could give her everything she wanted. And she could be everything he needed. She was beautiful and would be a welcome attachment to his arm at all the big state dinners. She was great at controlling others and could make sure the nanny was doing her job well. She would be a fine mistress to the Senator's mansion, and an even better first lady. Yes, Frannie decided. She was defiantly in love with Evan.

Her only problem now lay with Casey. Would it be too big of a betrayal to date her little sis's ex? Casey had never been too serious about him, and for the love of her Frannie couldn't see why not. Evan had offered her a life with a handsome husband, more money than she could know what to do with and the power that comes with being the wife of one of the finest politicians. Casey couldn't get passed the fact that Evan had cheated on her.

Well Frannie wasn't Casey. She could see why Evan had done it. Casey was just too passive to hold his attention. Well Frannie was too much like Evan to not know what he wanted- what he needed in someone he was going to spend the rest of his life with. She knew Evan just needed someone as pretty as Casey, as powerful as Rebecca, and as strong as he was. He needed Frannie. She hadn't always had her eye on him, but now that they were both single it seemed impossible to ignore.

It had been a long time since the night she had come to him to tell him about Casey's hook-up with Cappie and her obvious inability to let go of her little school-girl crush. Frannie wasn't that girl anymore. She and Evan had even been able to befriend each other, although Frannie could see that it was temporary after the drunken kiss. It was good. She knew that Evan was attracted to her, even though he claimed to be in love with Casey. It showed that there was plenty of hope. She just needed to remain his confidante and friend and eventually if she played her cards right he would come to her.

There were a few steps in her plan. Step number one. Be his friend. She made Evan trust her. She let him confide in her. She knew Evan loved that. She knew he would because its what she would have wanted and she just _knew_ that Evan and her were the same people. Step two: flirt. She knew from Casey that Evan hadn't been getting an action recently on Casey's end. So he would crave it. It was a simple human response. So Frannie let Evan be reminded of sex and planted it in his mind however unconsciously that she was the one to give it to him. Frannie than proceeded to step number three: leave him wanting more. She knew that she needed to prove her strength to Evan, so she made her self stronger than him. He was the one wanting more from her. She was the one turning him down.

It was a simple power struggle. All love was. That's why she knew that Casey and Cappie had wasn't really love. They seemed to share some sort of partnership. Real love couldn't be a partnership, because love called for more struggle than that. Love meant keeping your partner wanting more and trying to make you want more. It meant getting more out of your partner than they were getting out of you. And Casey sure as hell wasn't getting more out of Cappie than he was getting out of her.

She also knew that Casey and Cappie didn't have a real love because real love meant security that the two of them sure as hell didn't share. Casey had a 10 year plan, every Zeta Beta did. They wouldn't be ZBZ material if they didn't. Cappie on the other hand couldn't keep a major for more than a month and had no idea what he wanted to do with the rest of his life or even what he wanted to do in the next week. With Cappie, Casey wasn't sure of her future, the number of kids, or the size of the house, or even where her husband's paycheck would come from, let alone the sum. Frannie just couldn't get Casey to see that she had all of these answers with Evan, and that Casey loved Evan.

Well, you snooze, you loose. Casey couldn't keep Evan interested and so she lost him. Besides, Evan didn't really love her. He sure as hell wasn't getting as more out of her as she was him. But Frannie was willing to overlook that because she wanted what was best for Casey, because she was a good big sis. Frannie had once seen a note from Cappie for Casey that was addressed to "the girl with his heart in her hands". What a load of horseshit. Love wasn't supposed to make someone so vulnerable. She was just glad it was Cappie who was left this way and not her Casey.

Frannie only wished she had a time machine to turn back to freshman year so she could let Casey fix that mistake Casey made when she was dating Cappie. However, that wasn't her problem, and if Casey wasn't going to be as grateful as she ought to be for Frannie's much needed intervention, then she didn't deserve her thoughts or her symphony, and she sure as hell did not deserve Evan Chambers. Frannie wouldn't make the same mistakes as Casey made with Evan because she was sure that what she and Evan would have could very soon end up being love- something Casey, the poor thing, had yet to really know.

Frannie walked back to Evan's hotel room anxious for what the rest of their life would hold. It would be fabulous- she had no doubt. And that was all she needed.

Frannie had an insight, she knew very little of the world was privy to. She was lucky, she knew. She was able to really define what love is. But maybe it just took someone who was in love to recognize it and that was everybody else's problem.

She knew that Cappie may have loved Casey, but Frannie was sure that he realized that Rebecca was who he must really love. She could give him more than Casey could. She also knew that Rebecca couldn't love Cappie, and probably recognized from her hook-up with Evan that they could have had a great love. But Rebecca lost that one, to Frannie it turned out, and Frannie was not going to let this slip away from her.

Evan had too much to offer her.

**Author's Note**: I know that this seems a bit repetitive, but I was trying to imply that Frannie was unsure about her future with Evan, and was trying to convince herself despite the fact that she considers love to be everything she says. For her, that is love. She can't understand why Casey would want something else. She knew that Cappie and Casey had something special, but because of her definition of what love is, she feels threatened by it because it seems better than her definition. So she dismisses and belittles it. And I know I gave Frannie a mini breakdown (at least I'm hoping you got that impression), but that was to make you wonder, as she's wondering if this new and improved Frannie is all an act, or if its her sincere effort to change. Also, I know that this is very choppy and un-flowing but I wanted to show the internal struggle she's having over what she wants in her future with Evan verses what she sees between Casey and Cappie. Hopefully my explanation here will make you see this chapter in a better light, or at least with a little more insight than when you first read it.


	4. Bullets and Answers

The Girl with His Heart in Her Hands

**The Girl with His Heart in Her Hands**

**Author's Note:** First of all I'd like to thank my awesome new Beta **Currish**! Secondly, I was seriously considering holding this chapter hostage for more reviews, but I have planned to update quickly until Chapter 10 at least, and I figured I would have to break that if I waited for more reviews. Once I finish chapter ten the updates may slow, but I'm not certain yet. I do know that after Chapter 10 I'll have clearly established everyone's mental/emotional states and will be ready to get this story really going in regards to the plot. So please, read and review, I did something a bit different for this chapter that I'd love to get feedback on.

Chapter Four- Bullets and Answers

Evan Chambers rolled over in his sleep.

_He opened his eyes to the sounds of beeping machines, hushed voices, and muffled sobs. His eyes quickly focused on the first person he saw. "Frannie? Is that you? You look so different." he considered. "Evan! You're awake! Shh, don't worry Hun. I'm here." She replied gripping his hand tightly. "You're going to be okay."_

"_Where am I Frannie?" Evan asked. He was starting to get worried. Her lack of answers was making him become more and more anxious._

"_Evan don't you remember?" Frannie asked, clearly bewildered._

"_No, just… just tell me where I am, please" he begged._

"_You're at the hospital" She responded slowly and carefully, measuring his response with her eyes._

"_A HOSPITAL?!" Well she certainly was going to get a big response._

"_Evan, its okay. We have a team of secret service agents working around the clock guarding you. You're going to be okay. They arrested the guy who did this". She quickly said, trying to soothe the hysterical man._

"_Frannie, what happened exactly?", Evan replied feeling more confused than ever and quickly trying to regain his composure._

"_You… you were… you were sh-shot dear" Frannie replied in tears._

"_WHAT?!" Evan bellowed._

_Frannie's tears increased exponentially. "Evan don-don't be m-mad p-please! I was so scared. I just don't know what I'd do if I lost you!"_

"_Where I was I shot?!" Whatever answer he was expecting it was not that one. His eyes roamed down to his hospital gown. He looked down the collar at his chest where he saw a large bruise and an incredible number of stitches._

"_You, you really d-don't remember anything, d-do you Evan?" Frannie asked her sobs slowing._

"_No, Fran. I don't remember anything. Now please just answer the question." It was the diplomat in him. He just wanted some answers so he could figure out how he was going to fix this._

"_Evan, you were shot in the chest. The bullet just missed your heart but was lodged in your ribs." Frannie said slowly, her tears almost completely stopped._

_Evan's eyes widened. "Who shot me?" This was the question that scared him the most. He didn't know who would want to shoot him. He was Evan Chambers. People didn't shoot him._

_Frannie hung her head and the tears started fresh. "Curtis," she pleaded, turning to the biggest security guard at the foot of his bed "can you tell him? It's just too painful for me. I'm too embarrassed." He nodded. "Yes, of course". _

"_Mr. President you were shot by a radical civilian at 08:00 hours yesterday morning during your speech to the public outside of the United Nations Building. There was a first bullet intended for the first lady, but the second bullet hit you."_

_Evan's eyes opened wide. There was so much information in those two sentences for Evan to take in. He _

_was president. He had enemies. He took one of two bullets. The first was for the first lady— _

"_How is Casey?" He asked, slowly fighting back tears. She wasn't here with him. That means the first bullet must have been fatal._

"_Casey who, dear" Frannie said slowly, clearly concerned for the sanity of this man._

"_Cartwright!" He exploded. Now was not the time to be playing games._

_Frannie looked taken aback. "Sh-she's, um eh, she's out west I believe last time I heard from her. Married to that kid from college."_

"_Cappie?" he asked incredulously." She's married to Cappie?!"_

"_Yeah" scoffed Frannie. "Heaven only knows why she got herself into that mess again"._

"_But you said that the first bullet was intended for my first lady—"_

"_I'm fine dear" Frannie said. "Really, he missed me. We think he never meant to shoot you at all. I was his only target. His second shot hit you by mistake."_

"_You?" he asked in amazement. He couldn't register that Frannie was his first lady._

"_I really am fine dear. I'm just so sorry he hit you". _

"_Oh, don't blame yourself' he said, quickly recovering." Just tell me what our life is like."_

"_You mean you don't remember". Frannie's face fell and Evan was sure she was going to break into a whole new batch of tears._

"_Not right now" Evan said, "but I'd love to hear all about it". He smiled kindly._

_Frannie smiled. It wasn't an infectious overpowering smile like Casey had; it was more of a simply content smile. "Well, Mr. President, I'll be happy to oblige. You and I have two wonderful children, Evan Jr. and Guinevere. They're with their nanny right now. We had them flown in from their boarding schools after you… were hospitalized. They're just happy you're okay."_

"_So tell me a little about you. What are your favorite things to do nowadays?"_

"_Well I love going to the State dinners and banquets with you." She replied shyly._

"_You do?" Casey had always said that the alumni dinners they had had at CRU were the worst things she had ever been to in her life. She hated being at the end of his arm, like his trophy wife. It always angered him just a little to see how unsupportive she was of him and his future political ambitions._

"_And we live in the white house, right?"_

"_Of course we do, where else would we be silly?"_

"_I have no idea where else I would be Frannie. Our life sounds perfect."_

_She simply nodded with a far off look._

Evan slowly woke up. He rolled over to see Frannie asleep next to him. He was back on Spring Break and he finally had some answers he was looking for before he was able to doze off regarding his future with Frannie.

She seemed perfect. She was supportive, and made a beautiful wife. She was satisfied with everything he could give her, and she had produced him two perfect children. He knew that it was only a dream, but still.

Only one thing continued to plague him. _Why was Casey married to that douche Crappie? He surely wasn't giving her all the things that Evan could give Frannie. _Then again, Frannie was willing to do things Casey abhorred. Frannie would be a much better politician's wife.

It was Casey's loss. If she wanted to waste her time downgrading to Cappie, who would never be president like Evan would be and could never give her the things and the power that Evan could have given her, then good riddance. His mind drifted to something he had overheard Cappie say to Casey in freshman year back in the dorm the two boys shared _"Casey, you have my heart in your hands. Please, don't crush it"_. Evan considered this. _Was Casey the girl with _his _heart in her hands?_ No, most definitely not. He was too independent to give her that much control of him. He was stronger than that. He would never make himself so vulnerable to someone- even his potential wife. Evan may still love Casey a little, but after a few weeks with Frannie, he was sure Casey would be a thing of his past. He laid back down, his questions about his future with Frannie finally answered.

Frannie was right for him.

**Author's Note:**__I figured that in Freshman Daze we got a far better insight into Evan than I could have provided, and I had established last chapter that he was asleep. So I gave him a dream sequence that would serve as the internal questioning that the other characters have experienced. Dreams are after all a shortcut to our subconscious. I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews please.


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